Elderly man lucky to escape injury as car and train collide, causing delays

Terang police Senior Constable Ken Sayer said the elderly driver was attempting to drive down the side of the train lines at Terang in order to access a paddock about 2pm on April 11, 2024.

He said the man's Holden Rodeo utility, which was towing a small calf trailer, became bogged in a pile of gravel.

"(The driver) realised the train was coming as the boom gates started to close," Senior Constable Sayer said.

"He waved to the train in an attempt to get it to stop. Realising it wasn't able to, he stepped away and the train collided with his ute, which was written off."

The officer said the ute was not stuck on the train line but to the side of it, facing the same direction as the train en route to Warrnambool.

He said the utility was basically side-swiped, suffering significant damage.

He said the train was also impacted.

Senior Constable Sayer said the train came to a stop about a kilometre from the point of impact.

There were 64 passengers or V/Line staff on-board.

All passengers were safely evacuated from the train and taken to Warrnambool station on coaches just after 3.30pm.

"Safety is our top priority and we will work with relevant authorities as part of any investigations into the cause of Thursday's collision near Terang," a V/Line spokesperson said.

"We thank Warrnambool passengers for their patience while we worked to get them to their destination as quickly and safely as possible following yesterday afternoon's incident."

Coaches replaced trains between Warrnambool and Geelong on Thursday afternoon and evening .

Following an inspection by crews, the incident train was given the all-clear just after 7pm to move through to Warrnambool station for further assessment and approval for services to resume on the track just before 8pm.

As a result, Friday morning's 6.12am and 9.22am services from Warrnambool to Southern Cross were replaced by road coaches through to Geelong.

The incident was reported to the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator.